Rue, Raven, Dusk and Dawn
by Yolonda
Summary: Four human-avians, born and raised in a lab, have escaped. But the Erasors capture Raven, one of the leaders of the group. They capture Zeus, too. What happens when Zeus recognizes the boy with black wings?  Or when the Bird-Kids gain a fifth and sixth member? T just to be safe. Some Pothena.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN PJO. OR MAXIMUM RIDE. THEY BELONG TO RICK RIORDAN AND JAMES PATERSON. However, I _do_ own Raven, Rue, Dusk, and Dawn, kind of. Like, halfway. I own them up until they find out who they are. Or, to be more accurate, who they _were_. Then, they too, are owned by Rick Riordan, like halfway._ Enjoy the_**_** story!**_

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><p><em>Prologue<em>

_My name is Raven. I'm 14 years old, I live with my family._

_ The four of us were created on purpose- by the sickest, most horrible scientist you could ever imagine. They created us as an experiment… an experiment that completely changed us. We weren't originally human. And now… where 98%._

_That extra two percent… has had a huge impact._

_Now, normally, jumping out of the mouth of a cave at the top of a 500 foot mountain would be a bad idea. But, if you were in my situation… you would do the same thing. I was being chased by half human, half wolf creatures called "Erasers"… they erase us._

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><p>The thing about facing sudden death: It really makes you notice things. Little things, like the fact the sharp rocks you're running on are cutting into your bare feet, or the sharp holly bushes your running through are pricking your arms. He could manage that, for now. He just had to get away from the pack of Erasers. If he could just get to a clearing…<p>

Then Raven saw what looked like a decent sized clearing ahead. He crashed through the bushes and… NO!

A sheer 500 foot drop-off.

Well, he could face a pack of Erasers, or jump 500 feet.

Raven took a deep breath and glanced behind him. Erasers were closing in. 50 yards… 40 yards… then one leaped at him suddenly. He ran forward and allowed himself to fall over the edge of the cliff. The Erasor landed, claws out, in the space Raven had been a split second earlier.

Half way down, a pair of black wings (with a 14 foot wingspan) unfolded as he nose-dived into the forest below, turning his free-fall of terror into a steep glide. Landing on one knee, holding one arm out to brace his landing, he stood up to meet Rue, Dawn, and Dusk.

"Nice landing, Raven!" Dawn said.

"Thanks… we should get moving before the Erasers come back." He tilted his head up towards the cave. The other's nodded and unfurled their wings. Two pairs of gold and two pairs of solid black wings shot up into the night air.

Since you're probably confused by this point, let me explain.

They had been born in a lab and put on a "medically induced coma", while a group of the sickest, evilest, and down-right cold-hearted scientists you could ever imagine worked to cross-breed them with avians. Basically, an avian is a bird."

And now, Rue, Raven, Dusk, and Dawn were all 98% human, and 2% bird.

It was a science that couldn't exactly be explained, but I'll try anyway. The four hadn't been born human; in fact, they had been born in a lab 14 years ago.

Then, a rather painful procedure: they stuck them in these pod-things in their infantry, and used something to make them human, stripping away every trace of their old life. And they couldn't do anything about it. This process went on for about a week, until they were absolutely, 100%, without a doubt, human.

Then, on the second week, their memories had been taken away. This is a bit harder to explain. Even at a young age, even at two weeks, they knew they were different, even though they couldn't put it in words. Their names, their identities, everything they knew… all gone. Forever. They never knew later on they hadn't been born human; the scientists stole that knowledge from them. Basically, they wiped their minds clean. The only thing they had left were human instincts and basic knowledge.

Then, they grafted avian DNA onto their new human genes.

When they woke up, they were the spitting image of angels. If you believe in that kind of stuff. They were three months old by that time, and due to genetic enhancement, they were _intelligent_. They could talk fluently, and had logic and reasoning down pat. They also knew that the scientists, AKA Whitecoats, referred to them as "it" or "them" or "they"; sometimes "Subject" and their number, if they were lucky.

Dusk and Dawn had light brown wings. Dusk had wings from a falcon; Dawn had wings from a hawk. Dusk's wings had a touch of grey and Dawn's had a touch of yellow.

Same thing for Rue and Raven, wings of a falcon and hawk. But their wings were pure, midnight, raven black.

They didn't know their original names, but that didn't matter. Theoretically, they weren't even the same people.

They knew didn't have names. So, they came up with their own, after they found out.

Rue had said one time, after reading a book called "Hunger Games" when she was two, that she liked the youngest character in it: Rue, and that she hated the way she died. She named herself Rue to honor her, even though she knew Rue was a fictional character.

Dusk chose her name based on how she felt a special connection with moon. Her wings also were the color of dusk.

Same for Dawn, who enjoyed every moment of sun he could get. The touches of yellow in his wings lead him to name himself Dawn. It also matched his twin's name.

(Dusk and Dawn were the only two people of blood relation in their "family". But they were all family anyway.)

Raven had gone by the way he felt at night, when he felt like something he had read in a book: A ninja. He named himself Raven, because of the wings he had. He could blend in at night, his jet black hair, raven-colored wings, and dark clothing.

However, they were children, nonetheless. They didn't understand everything, or see everything the way everyone else did. They thought that giving themselves names was more like a game than anything else, then. That had happened when they were two.

They had grown up in the lab. Raven could remember when he was four years old, living in a giant cage made of glass with the others, when he was testing his raven-black wings to see if he really could fly. He didn't know he was different then, he assumed that the Whitecoats had wings, too, or that people were used to seeing kids with wings of a hawk. Those childhood beliefs had shattered, however, when a whitecoat's teenage son had called them "freakish mutants that didn't belong".

It had been a rude awakening, where, in Raven's mind, he had been pulled out of his safe, childhood fantasy world and placed in the cold reality of things: He was a freak, kept here because he was an experiment. Those people who took care of them, who he had originally thought of as his many parents who would gently talk to him as they gave him what he thought were shots and vaccines, had suddenly turned into strangers in white, who poked and prodded him with needles and took his blood. Dawn and Dusk, who he had thought were his brother and sister, were suddenly not related to him. And Rue… the girl he had a crush on since he was three…

Raven blinked back a few tears that were threatening to spill over. He was Raven; he didn't cry over stuff like this. He knew there wasn't any shame in crying when your hurt, but this was just a bad memory. He took off his backpack and pulled on his black hoodie. It had wide slits in the back, so he could fly in cold weather.

"Is it just me, or is it getting seriously cold?" He asked, trying to take his mind off the bad memories.

"Well, tomorrow's the winter solstice, so get used to it, Rave." Rue said.

"Don't call me "Rave". My name is Raven."

"Rue and Raven sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, and then comes-"

"SHUT UP, DAWN!" Rue and Raven shouted simultaneously.

"Listen, we have more important issues than Rue and Raven." Dusk started. "We still have to get to the School-"

"I hate that place." Dawn said.

"We _all_ hate the School." Raven pointed out."

"Noted. Anyway, we have to get back to the School to rescue… the others…" Dusk finished. In reality, none of them knew who "the others" were. They just knew that they were like them, experiments, freaks of nature, people who shouldn't be alive, et cetera.

"Earth to Raven!" Rue said suddenly, disrupting Raven's thoughts. That was a good thing, because they were bringing up more bad memories- more things he wanted to forget.

"Yeah, Rue?" Raven asked. Then he realized what was happening. About half a mile away, he could see the empire state building, and he was hurtling right towards it. And when you're going 60 miles per hour… he narrowly avoided being smashed by a metal pole.

"You need to stop spacing out when where flying!" Rue said. "If that were to happen in battle…"

She didn't finish her sentence. She didn't have to, Raven _knew_ what would happen. He looked down at the regular humans. They all looked so tiny… almost like ants. Ants with cell-phones.

"Hey, Rue?" I asked.

Rue looked up. "Do you think this place looks… familiar?" I asked.

Rue nodded. "I feel like I've been to the Empire State Building before." The other three nodded.

They had been born and raised in a lab, as it says above, so they knew they hadn't ever been to New York.

"Maybe we've been here before." Dawn suggested. "Maybe the School brought us to a science convention to show us off."

"Then why were we still in the School? The Humane Society would have jumped right on that." Raven pointed out.

"Maybe they didn't know." Dawn said mysteriously. Or, he tried to sound mysterious. He failed epically.

"I don't think it's too likely that we've been here before." Rue said. Dusk glanced at Dawn like she was worried about his mental health. Gods know Raven was.

_Gods know I was?_ Raven thought, landing in front of the Empire State Building for a rest. _Where did _that_ come from?_

He didn't have time to find out.


	2. Chapter 2

Rue, Raven, Dusk and Dawn

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Maximum Ride!**

**Wish I did, but I don't. **

_**And, just to answer one of the reviews I got… they aren't demigods. And no, Raven isn't Hades. **_

_**Hi Sara! *Waves around and hops on one foot and looking like a lunatic (or Nico when we first met him in the books)***_

Mortals started screaming under them. Even at this altitude, they could hear them. At first, Raven thought it was because they might have seen their wings.

But because this is his life, it wasn't that simple. "Flyboys!" Rue whispered.

Raven looked up to see 8 flyboys. "Why can't they just leave us alone for one day?" He complained.

"Because this is our life, and gods forbid it be easy." Rue said. The four jumped off the building and simultaneously extended their wings, shooting down at sonic speeds and halting about 60 feet above the sidewalk.

There it was again, _gods forbid_. What was up with that? Raven looked around for something, _anything_, he could use as a weapon. In his peripheral vision, he saw what looked like a man in a running suit standing at the top of the empire state building. He looked vaguely familiar… but unfortunately, in his life that often times meant a Whitecoat. He went back to searching for a weapon, not wanting to think about that possibility.

There! A 16 year old boy in a baseball outfit. (Did I mention all the bird kids had the eyes of a hawk? Figuratively speaking.) But that wasn't what he was interested in. The kid's bat was aluminum.

"Excuse me!" He called, diving down at break-neck speed by tucking in his wings a little. (Or, what would be break-neck speed for a normal person.) Then he mentally berated himself. _Your about to be beaten by a Flyboy and you waste time saying excuse me? Just grab the bat and go!_

"I need your bat! Thank you!" He said, grabbing it without waiting for a response. His wings shot out again and he jumped up, flying up to a flyboy. The boy in the baseball uniform was staring at him, mouth agape. Raven didn't blame him. He took three seconds to glance back and see if his family was okay. _Good, they're following me…_

That was his mistake. He hit one Flyboy in the spine just as it took a swipe at his midsection. His stomach and chest felt warm and wet, and he knew he had been badly cut. He tried to attack another Flyboy and just ignore it, but unfortunately, it just wasn't his day. The Flyboy took another hit, knocking the breath out of his lungs.

His wings folded and he fell to earth like a stone, and as he hit the ground he heard something snap, and a wave of intense pain shot through his shoulder and right arm.

His vision scrambled and started to go dark. He was dimly aware of one Eraser-wannabe exploding above him just as night was falling.

Rue landed next to him as his vision went dark completely and he slipped into unconsciousness.

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><p>"Hermes!" Zeus shouted. "If you're late for a solstice meeting again…" He warned.<p>

Oblivious to Zeus's anger (lucky him), Hermes dived into telling what he'd just seen.

"There are four kids outside…"

"That's why you're late?"

"_And they have wings!_ I can sense that they aren't completely human… they're powerful, too. I suspect they might be half-bloods." Hermes finished. "They're in trouble; they got attacked by… something… I saw it! I also heard them talking about how the Empire State Building seemed familiar and-"

"Do you think they've been here?" Hephaestus said, thinking aloud and cutting Hermes off.

"And I think they're a little familiar, too." Hermes said. "I know that's no reason to be late-"

"It certainly isn't." Zeus said, cutting him off and narrowing his eyes.

"But I have a feeling about those four. And you know that if Athena were here," Hermes gestured to her empty throne, "Or Apollo, or Artemis…you know that they'd want you to check it out. And we all know that Poseidon and Hades don't listen to you anyway, so-"

"Very well!" Zeus snapped at him, once again cutting him off. He didn't like it when he pointed out the select few who undermined his authority and got away with it. He was already in a bad enough mood, what with Hades coming and all. Now he would have to deal with both of his brothers; if they showed up this time. It seemed sometimes that they both vanished.

He glared at Hermes and stormed out, thinking that this was pointless.

He was so distracted with his own thoughts, which mostly entailed of the headache he was sure to get by the end of this solstice, that he didn't notice the van at first.

The drivers were loading up four bound-and-gagged kids into the back. Three were putting up a fight; one was unconscious and bleeding more than the others.

And the mortals weren't seeing a thing.

It was at that point when Zeus began to suspect that maybe Hermes was right, and these kids were demigods who needed help. And he was starting to think they were familiar…

Suddenly, his vision went black.

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><p>He woke up in… an office, which was weird enough.<p>

He glared at the wall and looked around, taking in his surroundings. There was a TV screen against one wall. The unconscious boy he saw earlier was awake now, in a dog crate, but he looked drowsy and Zeus got the feeling he hadn't been awake for long.

Then the boy seemed to realize where they were. He shot forward and looked at the others; all of which in cages and suddenly alert.

"No… don't tell me we're…"

The other kids looked away. The boy growled and punched the cage.

"Triple-reinforced steel," He muttered. "Lined with Maxi glass, reinforced with Plexiglas. Great…" Zeus was pretty sure it was impossible for a regular human to be that strong, but when he looked at the wall, there was a dent were the kid's fist landed. His hands were bleeding.

The door opened and a man stepped into the office.

"Vello, I am Dr. Ter Borscht." He said. "I see vou have vound my test subjects."

**It's not my best work... but I think its okay. At least it makes sense and you can tell what the plot is.**

**Oh, and what do you guys think? Should they go to camp, sneak out, and then go to the Institute? Or vice-versa? And... huge surprise in the next chapter! HUGE surprise...**


	3. Chapter 3

Rue, Raven, Dusk and Dawn

**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Maximum Ride!**

**WOO! TWO UPDATES IN ONE DAY!**

"I don't know about any of you, but I for one have waited three hours for Zeus to come back! I'm leaving!" Hephaestus said.

There were a few murmurs of agreement. Dionysus, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Demeter, Hera, and Hermes flashed out of the room and went back to they're normal lives.

Ares and Hades still hadn't shown up.

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><p>"Test subjects?" Zeus repeated.<p>

Ter Borscht nodded.

"Those kids in there are test subjects?" Zeus asked.

"Vey all volunteered for vis." Ter Borscht said.

"They don't look like they volunteered." Zeus said, looking at the screen again. The formerly unconscious boy looked like he was trying to punch through the bars of the cage.

"Vey have a few… mental issues. Vey have to be restrained for vey're own good." Ter Borscht waved away the test subjects as if it were no big deal. "Now, I have a small proposition to make to vou and Olympus."

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><p>"What your asking is impossible-"<p>

"I can assure vou, when Hera donated to us sixteen years ago, she had no such hesitation. Just think, our research vill be for the good of the planet." Ter Borscht said. "All ve're asking is for vou to make a second loan."

"A lot of this doesn't match up-" Zeus protested.

"Vat are vou talking about? Of course it does! All you need to do is sign vere, vere, and vere, and ve're all set!"

"May I have more information on your experiments, and maybe why you knocked me out and dragged me into a van _before_ I sign anything?" Zeus said, glaring at Ter Borscht.

"Sir, vith all due respect, vour wife didn't have any such hesitation when she became our venefactor…"

"So why don't you talk to her instead?" Zeus said, glaring. He didn't remember Hera mentioning anything about donating to a eugenics lab... wouldn't she say _s__omething_?

"Ve more ve merrier!"

Ter Borscht looked at Zeus's expression and slid the paper to him. "I vill drop ve cheerful attitude if vou sign vis."

Zeus grabbed the pen and scribbled his name on the line. "_Now_ tell me what's going on here."

_You really should have demanded to know that before you signed it…_

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><p><em>Raven had to get out of here... he had to escape and unlock his friends...why won't this open?<em>

Raven pounded on the door of his cage, desperately trying to get it open. He was calling for help, but none came. _Get me out of here!_

"Hey. Hey, stop; you're going to get hurt. It's all right; I'll help you get out, but I can't right now. They'll notice." A boy next to him said softly. Raven stopped banging for a second, shocked. He looked over to see a boy about his age, with black hair, black clothes, and black eyes. "Believe me; I know what you're all going through. I have wings too."

Raven was surprised to boy could talk at all, and even more surprised he was a Bird Kid they didn't know. "Who are you?" He said just as softly. _And how do you know I have wings?_ He thought.

"I call myself Corvus." He said. "But my real name? My real name's Hades." He said.

**I just had to... sorry... so, you're seeing a softer side of Hades. Then again, he's 15 and he's been in a dog crate for who knows how long. You can expect him to be a little more caring towards the younger subjects... you know, try to help them escape.**

**There's also a reason why his personality changed. But you're not getting it out of me just yet!**

**Also, I sort of got this idea from "She's a rebel", which is a GREAT story by the way, but Hera isn't JUST the school's benefactor. (Ter Borscht is lying to Zeus through a lie of omission.)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN MAXIMUM RIDE OR PERCY JACKSON. Would I be putting this on FanFiction if I _did_?**

Zeus's POV

Ter Borscht and another scientist were giving Zeus a small tour of the school. He was showing him the different labs. "And vere is the "Mind on a Stick" project."

"What's that?" Zeus asked.

"We're trying to see if the mind needs the physical body to remain alive after death." The other scientist, Reilly, said.

"So, immortality." Zeus said.

"No, no... Longevity." Reilly said.

"Is there a difference?"

"Ves. A big one." Ter Borscht said. "And vere is Generation 17, ve lupine-humans."

"Lupine-Humans?"

"Wolf-Human hybrids. Some people call them Erasers." Reilly said. "And, if you'll follow us to Lab 3, you'll see the Avian-Humans."

"Bird Humans?" Zeus asked.

"Yep. They're Generation 54 of DNA experiments." Reilly said. "I hope you understand, but we have to have tight security here. This is a top-secret department of government, and if the media found out riots would commence across the US. You're going to have to sign a confidentiality form before you see them."

Ter Borscht picked up a clip board and handed it to Zeus.

_How convenient they would have it right here,_ Zeus thought. He started to put down a mortal alias, but Reilly stopped him. "You don't have to worry about using a mortal name."

Zeus both scientists a strange look and signed his name. He handed the clip board back to Reilly.

Ter Borscht took out a key-card placed it in a scanner above the handle. There was a beep and a click, and he opened the door.

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><p>Raven quickly looked for the rest of his family. Rue and Dusk were sitting in to cages next to him, and Dawn was beside Corvus.<p>

He was about to relax- or, as close as relaxed as you can be when at the School, which is to say not showing that you're terrified- when he saw another person, at the other side of the room.

She was maybe twelve years old, and had dark, straight, over-grown hair and big, honey-colored eyes. Her skin was olive-colored. She had on a simple white shirt and pair of pants, which was what the experiments at the School typically wore. But her appearance wasn't exactly what Raven was focusing on.

On her back, slightly extended, was a pair of limp, dingy, light brown wings.

**I know, this chapter is short. It's kind of like a filler chapter, and it builds up suspense. **

**And I know, the summary says "Fifth member". I lied... they gain a fifth and SIXTH member. And don't worry. I promise she won't be a Mary-Sue.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm sorry to say this... but for personal reasons, I'm leaving . Part of me doesn't want to leave and abandon my fans, friends, and stories, but I feel I have too.**

**Anyone wishing to know why may visit the forum "Death to Critics United" and visit "And the rules that don't need to be enforced". You'll see my post on page two, towards the end, and know part of why I'm leaving.**

**I'm leaving for other reasons, too. I'm going to be in an early college in a few days, and I'm only thirteen, and I'm ADHD. I just CAN'T juggle my stories and school work. It'd be a distraction I don't need. I'm also writing a book, and I'm still on the third chapter because I'm busy here.**

**Anyone wishing to adopt ANY of my stories may do so, as long as you give me credit for what I wrote. You can change anything you wish, but know that I might be logging on every once in a while to update a story, if the demand is high.**

**And Sara, you're the one who originally inspired me to write, and I can't thank you enough for that. **


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